Best VDSL Modem on the market?

[#1]

im probably stating the obvious, but have you rebooted the hub one? 200ms latency is definitly a problem somewhere on the internal lan on ethernet should be getting 1ms everywhere.

Do all the devices report 200ms when you do a "ping 192.168.1.254" as would be interesting to see if the hub is responding slowly or its one of the devices, particularly good oto say disconnect all ethernet and wifi from it apart from one device and try that.

[#2]

Tou're still on the wrong thread, this was about internal LAN performance

[#3]

How did you get on with the VR2600? I'm looking at picking up something better and this is on my short list.

TIA.

[#4]

I have tried the Netgear DM200 modem. At first I could not get it to connect at all. Eventually found some settings that worked fine for a few days, but then it stopped connecting for more than a few minutes at a time.

Visited Maplin and now have TP-Link Archer VR600 which was easy to get working and seems better than any other I have tried.
The seemingly knowledeable guy at Maplin also suggested OpenReach should changeout the plug-in unit in the master socket when they come to do the upgrade to FTTC but often don't. (I am due fibre upgrade next week sometime)

[#5]

This might be too late now.....

However, if you access the Hub One's UI - http://192.168.1.254/ or http://172.16.0.1/ (that latter depends on if you changed the default), navigate to Advanced Settings, then Wireless, you could have tried the following:

Click 2.4Ghz and in the interface type (drop down menu) select 802.11 b/g/n (up to 300 Mb/s) click Apply and accept the warning. Using a WiFi analyser see which channel has the least congestion and select it, but it's worth bearing in mind WiFi overlap (Ch 1, 6 or 11 are the only ones that do not suffer from this). Also by manually selecting a channel this disables 'Smart WiFi'.

Next click 5Ghz  and turn the Sync to 2.4Ghz to off, add -5Ghz to the SSID and click Apply. If you have the new Sky Q it might be beneficial to select another channel on the hub as I believe both default to the same channel and iirc another poster found the hub didn't 'smart wifi' itself to another channel.

Now go to where the devices normally reside and again with a WiFi analyser see if the 5Ghz SSID can be picked up with a strong signal - if it's weak then your devices would 'drop' to the 2.4Ghz, which by default is set to 144Mb/s, hence the suggestion above to change this to 300Mb/s. Also it's worth noting that if you leave the 'Sync to 2.4Ghz' as the default of 'Yes' then there's a very good chance your devices were bouncing between both though you wouldn't necessarily see this.

Can't comment on why it failed over Ethernet apart from the known issue whereby the Hub One fails during the time we try to upload too much. The same is probably happening over WiFi too but I'm not sure.

[#6]

I use the Android App "WiFi Analyser" by walking round the house checking nowhere has signal less than -60db. Lower signals than that e.g. -70db may work but give lower speed. Then adjust position of router (e.g. to a more central position in house) to see if coverage improves. If that fails then some sort of wifi extender or additional wired router may be needed. I then go to a location with the lowest signal and check the speed with a Speedtest App.

Also one can see which channels are being used by other people nearby and change the Router set up to use a different channel.

I have found that the WiFi Router needs to be in a central position in the house.

Although the newer WiFi standards increase potential speeds the older "n" standard is fast enough to match fibre broadband speeds and the slower 100Mb/s for wired connections is also enough for most purposes.

The only way my hardware could be persuaded to run as slow as reported in the start of this thread would be by a setup error (e.g. in Lan interface properties set to 10M or wifi not using "n" or better.).

As of today I am testing the Archer WiFi Modem Router in the centre of the house connected by a 4 core 10M "Modem Cable" (telephone cable is two core) ti the master socket. This provides good speeds throughout the house exceot for one room where I will use a second wi fi router.

[#7]

The 4 core modem cable you refer to actually only uses 2 cores. However, If it is twisted pair as opposed to flat cable, that will help.

[#8]

I use that same app on an android phone.

For Windows inSSIDer works well on WiFi enabled PC/laptops:), but off the top of my head I can't remember the one for Mac's

[#9]

Ref WiFi Analysing - looking for similar Apps for Mac: 

I don't have a Mac but I looking on my iPad and although  there are quite a few Apps that would help with network investigation and testing (e.g. Network Analyser by TechNet) I did not find one that I could get to show you a graphical screenshot of how all the available frequency channels are being used.

The nearest that looked promising was WiFi Adviser but I could not understand how to make it work,

Ref the Four Core Cable:  I was in Maplin and I was looking at the various cables on offer for connecting Modems and telephones.  We noticed the 10M "ADSL Modem Cable" had 4 cores connected at the plugs and other cables don't.  I felt that odd myself as I thought only two cores were used.   Since then I have looked on line and there do seem to be all sorts of cables on offer,   Since my Fibre upgrade is due soon I will hang fire on any further investigation but the best set up would seem to be to find someway to put the WiFi Router in a central position in the house and either have a separate modem close to the Master Socket or have "the right cable" between the master Socket and the modem-router.   As you say twisted pair HF rated cable better, whether four cores are needed - I don't know but I suspect not.  

[#10]

plus net hub one is poor, I struggle to get wifi in next room yet I can pick  neighbours BT Smart hub 4 from 4 doors down, done all the usual channel changes and no interference yet was always told its an internal issue, I was lucky enough to obtain a new BT Smarthub and can now get wifi all through house and now even pick up connection in the street, initially PN said the smarthub would not work however once pn username and password was inputted into router works perfect,

some smarthub's (hub 6) on ebay for less than £70

[#11]

OpenReach completed my upgrade to 38M fibre last week.  I had a TP Link Archer VR600 in use as my Wi Fi Router but I kept the Plus One as my modem (Archer set in appropriate mode) to make the changeover easier.   (The Plus One is a super design for any user who wants problems sorted out quickly with all its built-in diagnostics.)

The Archer is in a drawer in my Kitchen at the centre of the house.   It provides good coverage almost everywhere but the 5GHz signal is patchy upstairs.  You can log on to the 5GHz upstaires but speeds are slow.   The Archer is significantly better than the Plus One and for those that like freedom to mess with settings such as DNS servers it’s a good choice.  (You cannot change DNS on Plus one they are fixed to use the PlusNet servers.)

Just before and immediately after fibre was enabled:

• I fitted the latest VDSL master socket, the BT type with separate socket for connecting modem.
• I disconnected all other house phone wiring (I had had several phone sockets in various room) and relocated my master wireless phone and backup unpowered phones so that they could also be plugged in at the master socket using a two-way adapter.
• I used a 5-meter special ADSL cable from the master socket to the Archer and found it connected easily to the VDSL signal at full speed.  (My house is about 200meters from the street cabinet).

I have stored the Hub One in the drawer close to the router with its PSU so that I can connect it to diagnose any issues in the future.

The 2GHz Wi Fi signal does not give top speed to read local files but almost all places in the house will give a speed test result to from internet the same as a hardwired laptop.     The 5GHz signal is faster but only when you are downstairs close to the router.

On the upstairs landing vertically above the router I have plugged in a TPLink wireless repeater that boosts the signal upstairs. The nice thing about these is that they can be set up to use the same SSID so anywhere upstairs where the relayed signal is louder your phone changes over automatically.

In conclusion if you want minimum hassle and good results I would do the following:

If you are not getting full speed and you are within 500meters of the street cabinet then check if you should change out the master socket.

If you are not happy with Wi Fi first re-locate Plus One Router to central position.

If still not happy with Wi Fi in some corners of house consider repeaters, cost far less than a new router. (e.g. £20 compared to £90).

If you must have a new wi fi Router/Modem I would recommend the Archer V600 it was easy to set up and seems to work well with Plusnet but you may be able to get almost as good results by careful siting of the free Plus Net Hub One.

If you can manage to hardwire network cable to router that is far better for laptops and desktops and NAS etc.

Note that to appreciate Wi Fi signal levels its best to use a Wi Fi Analyser on an Android Phone that shows signal levels then you can also check if you should change channels to avoid the channels your neighbours are using,  you need better that -60db for best speed.

[#12]

I was previously running a Home Hub 5 but wanted better performance upstairs so I used a Powerline adapter with Wifi upstairs which greatly improved performance however I had occasional network drop outs upstairs and also to my Mac which was connected via Powerline. This never happened previously. When I removed the Wifi Powerline unit the network (powerline to Mac) was stable again with zero drop outs. I figured the additional powerline units were causing an issue so decided to look for a better performing wireless router to help with upstairs. The Home Hub 5 had been rock solid in use for me so I thought I would try out a new BT Smart Hub. Picked up one sealed off eBay for £50.

Set up was straight forward and I was getting noticeably improved Wireless performance upstairs - I could get the full 76Mbps on my iPad so happy with that. Checking the logs, I noticed a lot of PPP errors/disconnects with the Smart hub in the first 20 hours  even though I did not notice any issues but this has since stopped and the logs have been clean since then. Uptime has now been over two weeks without any issues and performance remains as it has always been. Happy with the Smart Hub even if though it lacks a few more advanced features.

[#13]

This may be redundant now, but if you're still looking for a xDSL Modem then I would recommend this one. I use two of these for my broadband and they work without exception. When used in conjunction with a Vigor Router you get a display of the modem's connection status on the router's Web UI. It may also work using other routers but I don't know.